First Debate Between Davis and Lungren

Re “Lungren, Davis Spar on Abortion, Gun Control,” Aug. 1:

I believe that the debate was a draw but that Gray Davis could have done much better if he simply pointed to some obvious concerns of the average taxpayer.

The death penalty may be important but it is carried out so infrequently that its effect on crime is insignificant. In the meantime these killers are sitting in our prisons and, since they have nothing to lose, are a potential threat to the correctional staff. Assault weapons on the streets are an immediate threat to my family’s safety and security.

Abortion may be distasteful but the back-street abortionist is even more distasteful. Why does Dan Lungren’s religious belief have to be the rule for the adult women in California? Does he think that it is the daughters from functional families who are getting pregnant at 13?

We voted on the voucher system and turned it down. The reason some schools are failing is the lack of support from 16 years of Republican administrations.

The list can be endless. Davis needs to be more assertive and direct.

MIKE NEJAD

Napa, Calif.

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After watching the first Lungren-Davis debate, it became painfully obvious that Davis is far outside the mainstream, especially on the hot issues of education, guns and abortion. Instead of empowering parents and local officials, he wants more and more government bureaucracy. Instead of dealing harshly with criminals, he wants to confiscate guns from law-abiding citizens. Instead of fostering parental involvement in a teenage girl’s decision on whether or not to have an abortion, he wants to leave her totally alone and unprotected from strangers with an agenda who want to influence her decision.

ANN GRIVICH

West Covina

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Lungren was dead wrong when he implied that Davis’ work for Gov. Jerry Brown somehow undermines Davis’ support for the death penalty. As one who served with Davis in the Brown Cabinet, I witnessed Davis’ arguments in favor of capital punishment. He strongly disagreed with Brown on that issue. Brown and Davis had similar views on a number of issues, but they had--and still have--a fundamental difference regarding the death penalty.

TOM QUINN

Los Angeles

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Davis’ vote of confidence in Singapore for having “very little violent crime” due to “very clear rules” is a vote for a police state that has not been able to control violence. Singapore in fact has more violent crime than neighboring countries with similar cultures, such as Japan, Korea and Malaysia. As for the “rules” of Singaporean justice, they are: arrest without probable cause, deny those arrested access to lawyers, obtain confessions through torture, give draconian sentences and politicize crime by reinterpreting the law capriciously and unexpectedly so that the rules are very unclear.

MICHAEL HAAS

Los Angeles